Become A Foster Parent In Newport News, VA
Newport News 's children are worth knowing. Worth loving. Worth supporting.
Learn how becoming a foster parent can bring belonging, purpose, and joy to a child and your family.
About Newport News
Newport News, Virginia, a bustling city with a population of about 185,000, is located on the southeastern edge of the Virginia peninsula. With its rich history, waterfront location along the James River, and proximity to the Chesapeake Bay, Newport News offers a great mix of cultural and recreational opportunities. The city is home to attractions like The Mariners’ Museum and Park, one of the largest maritime museums in the world, and historic sites such as the Endview Plantation. Families enjoy outdoor activities at Newport News Park, one of the largest municipal parks in the country, which offers trails, camping, and fishing.
For foster families, Newport News provides a robust support system to meet the needs of both children and caregivers. The city currently has 114 children in foster care, many of whom are seeking stable, nurturing homes. The Newport News Department of Human Services works to ensure foster parents have access to training, financial assistance, and counseling services. Partnering with organizations like Newport News CASA and Families Forward, the city offers resources designed to help children heal and thrive while supporting foster parents every step of the way. Consider helping one of the children here in Newport News and become a foster parent!
Newport News is particularly family-friendly, offering a variety of spaces and activities where families can bond. Places like the Virginia Living Museum provide interactive exhibits that educate and inspire, while public libraries offer programs for children of all ages. Seasonal events, such as the Fall Festival of Folklife and Hollydazzle, bring the community together and create opportunities for fun and connection. Foster families have plenty of options to explore, whether they enjoy outdoor adventures, cultural experiences, or community gatherings.
The city’s commitment to supporting its residents, especially its youngest and most vulnerable, makes Newport News a great place for foster families. With a combination of comprehensive services, family-friendly amenities, and a strong community spirit, Newport News provides the foundation for foster children and families to build positive, lasting relationships. Start your journey to becoming a foster parent today!
Why Choose FosterVA
FosterVA is a campaign started by Extra Special Parents (a licensed child placing agency) to raise awareness of Virginia’s need for great foster families, especially in Newport News . Great foster parents make a difference in a youth’s ability to develop resiliency, which allows them to survive and thrive with the right support.
We have a support group that meets monthly for all foster families and respite care for yourself. Our support includes Individual clinical case managers and a crisis line manned 24/7/365. These tried and tested systems are put in place to ensure you and the child are supported during this journey as a foster parent.
Can I foster a child in Newport News ?
Find out if you qualify to become a foster parent! Becoming a foster parent is a challenging and enriching experience for you and all family members. You can make a huge difference and change a child's life for the better, especially for sibling groups and older children in foster care programs. If you care about children and want to help them, fostering a child is an extraordinary calling.
Children in the foster care system have been through traumatic experiences. They need a loving home to help them recover and thrive. Providing a home for a child can be heartwarming and beautiful when you start to see them succeed in your care. If you have the heart and a home for a child in Newport News , VA please contact us to learn more about our process.
Our parents come from all works of life, and your work and life experience will enhance what you bring to being a foster parent. So please never think that your life experience is unsuitable for a child in foster care, with nearly 5000 kids in the Virginia Department of social services care. We will find a child that will be great for you or your family.
Start the process today to become a Foster Parent
Family Friendly Events and Places of Interest
Huntington Park
Huntington Park, features a 60-acre park with public beach and public boat ramp, 2002 American Rose City rose garden, picnicking, ball fields, and playground.
Lee Hall Mansion
Lee Hall Mansion is an Italianate residence built in 1859 by prominent planter, Richard Decatur Lee, for his family. Only three years after the house’s completion, the Lees fled their home as the Peninsula became one of the first battlegrounds of the Civil War.
Newport News Park
Great park for camping,running, disc golf course is so much fun with woods and open spaces. Christmas lights are cool. Picnic areas and pavilions. Only negative comment is stupid statue of man carrying acrocodile, are so native to Newport News! Kinda looks like George Washington too! Just sayin Great park in all honesty, enjoy.
Newport News Visitor Center
Make plans to begin your adventure at the Newport News Visitor Center. Here our well-trained travel counselors stand ready to assist you with your itinerary and to help you make the most of your Newport News experience. The counselors can supply you with a variety of information including a Visitor Guide, directional maps, attraction fees and hours, accommodation information, and special event happenings.
The Mariners' Museum and Park
Curate your Mariners’ Experience! From inspiring stories of mariners who risked it all for freedom to true tales of man conquering the wild seas, our indoor galleries will spark curiosity, wonder, and an appreciation for our shared maritime heritage. Explore over 90,000 square feet of gallery space and discover your connection to our shared maritime heritage. Admission to the Museum is only $1 per person. Add some outdoor adventure to your day in our 550-acre Park which offers visitors a quiet and serene place to walk, hike or run amongst rolling woodlands. Our Park features the award-winning five-mile Noland Trail that surrounds the 167-acre Mariners’ Lake. The Park is free and open to the public.
The Noland Trail
Explore one of the nation’s largest privately owned and maintained parks, complete with stunning lake views and an array of recreation activities. The 550-acre Mariners’ Park is free and open to the public. It offers visitors a quiet and serene place to walk, hike or run amongst rolling woodlands on the award-winning five-mile Noland Trail, surrounding the 167-acre Mariners’ Lake.
U.S. Army Transportation Museum
Our museum heritage spans the breadth of transportation multi-modal delivery which has given the Nation and our Army the ability to globally deploy, engage and defeat the enemies of the United States in close combat. To do so, the Transportation Corps has grown and evolved in capability since its Rail and Movement Control beginnings. During Vietnam, Army Transportation added helicopter deliveries of man and equipment on the battlefield in support of intratheater operations. Today, Army transportation includes Air, Rail, Container, ship, and truck transport having divested its rotary capability to the Army Aviation Corps to give intertheater clout. With units spread throughout the Active, Guard and Reserve, Army transportation both here and abroad has created a culture within the logistics community who are risk takers on the battlefield as its people depart ports and Forward Operating Bases to sustain and bring capability which embraces its motto as the "Spearhead of Logistics"
USS Monitor Center
The USS Monitor Center houses the award-winning exhibit Ironclad Revolution as well as the largest and most advanced conservation lab of any maritime museum in the world, The Batten Conservation Complex.
Virginia Living Museum
View endangered red wolves. Get up close to a loggerhead turtle and moon jellies. See fish with no eyes and frogs that change colors. Touch live spider crabs and fossilized dinosaur tracks. It's all at the Virginia Living Museum, Newport News, where living exhibits depict Virginia's natural heritage from the mountains to the sea. Experience a steamy cypress swamp and cool mountain cove. Explore the underwater world of the Chesapeake Bay and the underground realm of a limestone cave. See flying squirrels, stingrays and other creatures of the night. Touch famous Bay creatures. Kids will especially enjoy the Touch Tank with its sea stars and horseshoe crabs. Enjoy hands-on activities. See spectacular views of the sun from the observatory and travel the universe in the state-of-the-art digital planetarium. Outdoors, stroll the boardwalk to view coastal birds, beavers, otters, coyotes, endangered red wolves and other animals in naturalized habitats. Butterfly Garden, Virginia Garden and landscape plantings display one of the most extensive displays of native plants in Virginia. Learn how to live, build and garden green in the Conservation Garden and Green Living House.
Virginia War Museum
American military history unfolds at the Virginia War Museum. Collections of artifacts, weapons, vehicles, uniforms, and posters trace the development of the United States military from 1775 to the present. Galleries include Women at War, Marches Toward Freedom, and Visions of War, the museum’s extensive propaganda poster collection. An additional exhibit explores the history of the City of Newport News, outlining the City’s role as a Port of Embarkation for both World Wars. Other artifacts on display include Harry Truman’s World War I helmet, a section of the Berlin Wall, and a portion of the outer wall from Dachau concentration camp.
